I had never imagined that people lived in Curacao, the Caribbean island next to Aruba, much less that they traveled to Uruguay. In fact, at least six of them, a motley crew of friends around 40 years old, exist. They were fun company at the ranch and were kind enough to offer me a seat in their car on the way to Salto. We spoke in Spanish and English, which are only two out of the four languages that get mixed into their native creole, Papiamento. Dutch and Portuguese are the others.

The drive was gray and beautiful. I crossed peeing near ostriches by the side of the road off my lifetime bucket list:

(That gray blob in the middle of the photo is a ñandú, a South American bird related to the ostrich).